Bayless' State Dinner black mole: Any attempts?

A friend of mine is planning to make Rick Bayless' Oaxacan Black Mole -- the one he made for the White House's Mexico State Dinner in May -- for a dinner party next week.

Anyone out there attempted it? Got any shopping and cooking advice for my pal?

I've made it a couple of times . . . and I love it. Advice: 1) the recipe calls for burning multiple items. So keep your windows open and exhaust on high because there will be lots of smoke. 2) Between the stirring, cooking and blending, the mole has the tendency to splatter, so keep the temperature under control and be prepared with damp cloths to wipe down the mess. Otherwise, enjoy. It's time consuming but really not complicated and the result is worth the effort. And don't be tempted to overdo the chocolate . . . it's just one component in the recipe and the flavor shouldn't dominate. And finally, I couldn't find chilhuacle chiles and it sounds like they may not be available, so take Rick's advice and substitute the mulato, pasilla and guajillo peppers . . . which are easily found.

BR nailed all of the points I was going to make. It's a delicious recipe; I'm not sure it's better enough than Xni-Pec's from the recado negro they bring up, or Rick's own much simpler peanut mole, to justify all of the steps at home, but I will submit that the color and aroma are in their own class. I generally omit banana / plantain from my moles FWIW, preferring dried fruit. They had avocado leaves at Tony's. Here's the link to the recipe:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/2 ... 83397.html

I'm the friend! Easily found ingredients yesterday at Danny's Market on Western Ave. -- I was pleasantly surprised to get it done all in one trip. I bought the green tomatoes at the farmer's market -- that's the one thing I think could be hard to find other times of year.

My next decision is how to do the chicken. This is for a massive tasting menu for at least 15 people, so no one will want or need a quarter-chicken as called for, and I have to transport it, and it will sit awhile before serving .... I was tempted to do shredded chicken, but someone else is bringing duck carnitas, so that would mean two "shreds." Any thoughts on how to do the chicken for a crowd? (Pieces being one obvious solution -- though then I may stress about how many people like dark meat, or don't -- or cubes that can be easily dished out -- then it could all be kept warm in a Crock Pot -- but they may be dryish even in sauce?)

I will check out his peanut mole recipe for another time, too...! I don't have an exhaust fan but will rig something up and open the door when scorching seeds. Thanks!

Fasolakia wrote:I'm the friend! Easily found ingredients yesterday at Danny's Market on Western Ave. -- I was pleasantly surprised to get it done all in one trip. I bought the green tomatoes at the farmer's market -- that's the one thing I think could be hard to find other times of year.

My next decision is how to do the chicken. This is for a massive tasting menu for at least 15 people, so no one will want or need a quarter-chicken as called for, and I have to transport it, and it will sit awhile before serving .... I was tempted to do shredded chicken, but someone else is bringing duck carnitas, so that would mean two "shreds." Any thoughts on how to do the chicken for a crowd? (Pieces being one obvious solution -- though then I may stress about how many people like dark meat, or don't -- or cubes that can be easily dished out -- then it could all be kept warm in a Crock Pot -- but they may be dryish even in sauce?)

I will check out his peanut mole recipe for another time, too...! I don't have an exhaust fan but will rig something up and open the door when scorching seeds. Thanks!

With that much work on a sauce, you have seriously earned the right to grab a few rotisserie chickens to pull; crisp skin and moist chicken with no distracting flavors, and the point of the mole is the mole. If you don't want to do bone-in pieces which have cooked with the dish, I recommend grilling boneless chicken thighs (which stay very moist), or simply poaching them with vegetables and then using the stock for the liquid. The mole also works very well over hard-boiled eggs, oven-roasted turkey or turkey breast, or masa cakes.

I made the mole! All week long. Quite an undertaking.

The taste is amazingly complex, with flavors of the actual ingredients and other things (I couldn't help but think of coffee). It struck me as a tiny bit rough around the edges, so I'm glad it's going to sit till Sunday. It's gorgeous and smooth.

Now, the chicken. I am 90% sure I'm going to do rotisserie from Costco -- otherwise I will buy packages of breasts and thighs and poach and pull them in advance. Then it will all go into a slow cooker at my friend's house for probably three hours before serving.

I do feel a bit like I'm "cheating," but given that I have to stretch the recipe to feed now 13 people (though at more of a sample-size entree portion), I'm just a little nervous about trying to pack in that much raw chicken to braise, and worrying about if it's fully cooked, or getting too dry, and then having to pull it at her house during the party, all of that.

Rotisserie, sounding better than ever!

(Of course, I immediately changed my mind and am now poaching organic chicken breasts and thighs....)

Well, I don't think you'd be cheating by using rotisserie chicken because the mole is the important part of the dish . . . as far as I'm concerned, the chicken is nearly equivalent to white rice in that dish.

As for presentation, I think it looks stunning when topped with toasted sesame seeds and or plated surrounded by bright greens or nopales. I hope your friends appreciate the effort. Not everyone loves moles (especially mole negro), but I think they're amazing when well executed. By the way, I forgot the date, time and location of the party where you're serving the mole.

Um, hello, remember me? Your friend who lured you onto this board in the first place? Perhaps you could bring a taste for me at work Monday...? After all, we need an objective third party to report on how you did.

Well, here we go again . . . as the weather turns colder, it's time to make some Oaxacan Mole Negro and Rick Bayless' recipe is terrific and complex. I've gathered the ingredients and will be preparing the mole tomorrow (for serving Saturday). As noted, this sauce is no small undertaking.

Here are all of the dry ingredients set out (not all measured out just yet), clockwise and not including the peppers in the middle, sesame seeds, Mexican canela, whole cloves, dried thyme, white bread, unskinned almonds, unskinned spanish peanuts, pecans, black peppercorns, corn tortillas, avocado leaves, Mexican oregano and Mexican chocolate (salt and sugar not shown):




And the peppers, from left to right: mulato, pasilla, guajillo and chipotle:




As I prepare the mole, I'll try to document more of the process. Though somewhat daunting, I enjoy making this mole . . . something fun about burning the crap out of multiple ingredients puts a smile on my face (as does the result).

BR-
I will be following your posts with the keenest interest. Courage!.

I love all 7 of Oaxaca's famous moles (tracking down all 7 makes for a fun time in Oaxaca), but the mole negro does seem to be the most revered. I'll look forward to hearing how yours turns out, BR.

Wanted: sous chef . . . must be willing to stem and seed dried peppers, stir and scrape for hours, clean, etc...

I was reminded yesterday, last night (and past midnight) why I so seldom make mole. It's a very time consuming task that starts with the most time consuming part - stemming and collecting all of the seeds from the dried peppers, and continues with scraping, stirring, blending, washing, etc. Luckily, I now have enough mole negro to last me for weeks, if not months, as I'm sure I won't use it all Saturday, and the flavor supposedly improves some with a little aging. I have pictures (of the mole at least) and plan to post them within the next week.

I had planned to also make chiles en nogada for this dinner but have decided not to detract from the mole (really, I just don't want to kill myself). So instead, it'll simply be a couple of homemade salsas (one roasted), guacamole, chicken with mole negro, rice and churros with a spicy chocolate sauce for dessert.

This was the third time I made this Oaxacan mole negro, and I'd say this was the best version, which I'll chalk up to just a little more experience. You can find the recipe many places on the web, and it appears identical to the version listed in Rick Bayless' cookbook, Mexican Kitchen. You start off by roasting the chile seeds with the shredded corn tortilla, which you roast until charcoal colored. If you don't have an amazing exhaust system, open your windows wide because there will be a lot of smoke. Here are pictures of the seeds and tortilla in the pan before roasting and when almost fully blackened:


chile seeds and tortilla before roasting


seeds and tortilla almost fully blackened


You'll also need a couple of pieces of stale bread, which you'll toast until very dark. You'll notice lots of smoke coming from your toaster so be ready. Here's a picture of the toast - the lighting made the toast look a lot lighter than it actually was:


burnt toast


After roasting, I rinsed the seeds and tortilla and transferred to the blender. I then pan roasted a couple of onion slices and four unpeeled garlic cloves until dark. I also toasted the sesame seeds, peanuts, pecans and almonds in the oven.

The next step was to fry the the dry chile peppers. The recipe calls for lard or vegetable oil. I used a combination, although I believe a really good lard would have made this mole even better. You only fry the peppers for about 30 seconds, a few at a time, drain and then soak in water to rehydrate. Here are the peppers after draining and then soaking:


peppers drained after frying



peppers re-hydrating


You then make four purees in the blender, each of which is ultimately added together to make the mole. You make the purees consecutively, but do not rinse the blender in between purees. Some of the purees are pretty thick so don't be surprised if you encounter difficulties pureeing. My trick is to grab the blender with both hands, shaking and turning a little as needed (and occasionally turning off and using a spoon or spatula to move the mixture around) to puree as well as possible. The first puree is comprised of the burnt chile seeds and tortilla, the toasted sesame seeds and nuts, and some chicken stock (I used largely homemade broth, but I also ended up needing a little low sodium Swanson's for the recipe). Here's a picture of the seed and nut puree:


seed and nut puree


The second puree is supposed to be a puree of green tomatoes, tomatillos and broth. I couldn't find any green tomatoes so I increased the ratio of tomatillos to tomatoes. Here's a picture of this puree:


tomato and tomatillo puree


The third puree is comprised of the onion slices and garlic, the burnt toast, cloves, black pepper, Mexican canela, oregano, thyme, 1/2 ripe banana (I've seen recipes calling for ripe plantain too), and more broth. I could have used pre-ground herbs/spices, but decided to put my mortar and pestle to use:


grinding the Mexican canela


Here's a picture of the finished third puree:


puree of onion, garlic, toast, banana and herbs and spices


Finally, the fourth puree, made in two batches, is comprised of the re-hydrated chiles and some of the chile soaking liquid:


chiles and chile soaking liquid puree

After you've made the four purees, it's then time to make the mole. You start by heating up some oil/lard and then cooking the four purees over medium high heat, starting with the tomato/tomatillo puree, and then adding in the remaining three purees, one at a time, stirring and scraping continuously for approximately 45 minutes. First, you cook the tomato/tomatillo puree until paste-like and dark (about 20 minutes). Here's a picture of the tomato/tomatillo puree when thick and almost dark enough:


cooked tomato/tomatillo puree


Next, it's time to add the seed and nut puree to the thickened tomato/tomatillo mixture. Keep cooking for just under 10 minutes, until dark like a black olive paste:


the first two purees combined and cooking, almost done

Next, add the banana/toast/spice puree and cook that for several minutes. Fast forwarding ahead, the last puree added is the chile puree. Here's what it looks like immediately after adding the chiles:


the four combined purees, immediately after adding in the chile puree


You then cook this mixture for about 30 minutes, until almost black. Next, add in the Mexican chocolate, several cups of chicken broth, and avocado leaves, partially cover and bring to a slight simmer, and simmer for about an hour. You then season with salt and sugar. Then blend the entire mole sauce in a blender, in batches, until as smooth as possible.

The recipe calls for 1/4 cup of sugar, or a little more if desired, noting that the sugar balances the bitterness. I have learned that the flavors develop over time, and that tasting the mole when you first cook it will offer a different flavor than the flavor that develops after a couple of days in the refrigerator. Thus, I use only 1/4 cup of sugar (maybe a little more if I can tell it's absolutely needed) when I first make the mole, and then when reheating for use (or further use), I add in a little sugar as needed (but this needs to be cooked because you don't want to feel grains of sugar in the finished dish). Also remember, this is not a chocolate sauce or a sweet sauce and it should be quite complex, with no single flavor dominating another. The version at La Ciudad is just all wrong - too sweet, too much chocolate and too much cinnamon.

I served this mole atop chicken and then topped it with toasted sesame seeds, and served it with purchased corn tortillas and Classic White Rice from Bayless' Mexican Kitchen cookbook, which is rice toasted with olive oil and white onions, then cooked with chicken broth, seasoned with salt and finished with cilantro. I think this rice is the perfect accompaniment for the mole.

Here is a picture of one of my composed plates:


finished and plated Oaxacan Mole Negro with Classic White Rice


I absolutely love this mole (yeah, plating could use some work), and knew my guests did too as they were using their tortillas to lap up every drop of the mole sauce on their plates. This is a huge project, several hours to complete (8 or more) and a lot of physical labor, but the reward is a huge batch of a terrific mole that will last far beyond one dinner with guests. Although the recipe says that it's enough for 8 servings, it also indicates there will be enough sauce for leftovers, and I'll be shocked if I can't get another 8 or so servings out of the sauce.

<slow clap>

Thanks for sharing. As complex, rich, satisfying, and dare I say it - sophisticated - as any dish out there. Please send leftovers via PM.

Santander wrote:<slow clap>

Thanks for sharing. As complex, rich, satisfying, and dare I say it - sophisticated - as any dish out there. Please send leftovers via PM.

And thanks for the compliment - too kind. I guess we're in the same camp too ... sophisticated indeed.

Thanks for the great photo post. I amcurious where you got your mexican chocolate. I have looked at my favorite mexican grocery and not found it.

lougord99 wrote:Thanks for the great photo post. I amcurious where you got your mexican chocolate. I have looked at my favorite mexican grocery and not found it.

Thank you for the compliment - I assumed the Mexican chocolate and avocado leaves would be the most difficult ingredients to find (well, I knew I had no chance of scoring chihualces chiles), but Pete's Fresh Market was my first stop this mole-making occasion and they had both the chocolate and avocado leaves. I was quite pleased with the El Popular brand chocolate too - a really distinct flavor (in the past I purchased Ibarra and it's definitely a step down). And although the recipe indicates that the avocado leaves are not necessary, they have quite a distinct aroma and flavor. While I believe this was my best mole largely due to the experience of having now made it a few times, I will say that on my past two attempts I used neither El Popular brand chocolate nor avocado leaves ... Significant? Maybe ... I don't know, but next time I know both items will be returning to the party.

There is something not right about this recipe. I remember him saying he would never give out the recipe because it could only be taught because you had to now how to burn each item to the right level. This one only has one burning, the chili seeds and tortilla which you really can't mess up. I will say this, it is definitely not the same recipe he uses on the Top Chef finale judging from the color or what I saw him doing on the show.

I made it today and it didn't come even close to looking black. Some other things I found strange were not blackening the tomatillos,tomatoes, or bananas. I went out of my way to make sure to extra char everything recommended as well. The problem lies in him asking us to fry the chiles. This turns them from a blackish color to bright red. This makes the most significant portion of the mole, the chile puree red and so too the sauce.

Once I saw how red it still was after all that time I spent blackening stuff I was upset. I even tried to reduce the chile puree down longer than I should have, to the point where the bubbles were exploding like 10 feet in the air. All that burning, and the recipe really doesn't taste that much different then his mole poblano from Authentic Mexican. Both have a very pronounced clove and cinnamon taste which I don't care for and which a lot of people commented on.

Very disappointed I spent all that time and money for that. Next time I think I might use Diana Kennedy's recommended technique for Mole Negro and dry toast the chiles till they turn black, to obtain my desired black color, as well as blackening the tomatoes, tomatillos, and use a plantain instead and blacken it. When all was finished a ended up with a dark red/brown mole, and was unable to discern any flavor the burnt chili seeds added.

rustyshaclkeford wrote:There is something not right about this recipe. I remember him saying he would never give out the recipe because it could only be taught because you had to now how to burn each item to the right level. This one only has one burning, the chili seeds and tortilla which you really can't mess up. I will say this, it is definitely not the same recipe he uses on the Top Chef finale judging from the color or what I saw him doing on the show.

I made it today and it didn't come even close to looking black. Some other things I found strange were not blackening the tomatillos,tomatoes, or bananas. I went out of my way to make sure to extra char everything recommended as well. The problem lies in him asking us to fry the chiles. This turns them from a blackish color to bright red. This makes the most significant portion of the mole, the chile puree red and so too the sauce.

Once I saw how red it still was after all that time I spent blackening stuff I was upset. I even tried to reduce the chile puree down longer than I should have, to the point where the bubbles were exploding like 10 feet in the air. All that burning, and the recipe really doesn't taste that much different then his mole poblano from Authentic Mexican. Both have a very pronounced clove and cinnamon taste which I don't care for and which a lot of people commented on.

Very disappointed I spent all that time and money for that. Next time I think I might use Diana Kennedy's recommended technique for Mole Negro and dry toast the chiles till they turn black, to obtain my desired black color, as well as blackening the tomatoes, tomatillos, and use a plantain instead and blacken it. When all was finished a ended up with a dark red/brown mole, and was unable to discern any flavor the burnt chili seeds added.

Sorry to hear the mole did not turn out well for you. I can't recall exactly how Bayless made the mole negro on the show, but I have Kennedy's book (and a couple of others featuring mole negro recipes, including one from Zarela Martinez) and I don't know that the recipes are vastly different (ripe plantain vs. banana does not seem like a huge issue in terms of flavor, especially in such a small amount). With respect to the color, I know Kennedy calls for roasting the tomatoes, but she does not call for blackening them so I'm not sure that would make a huge difference in color. You don't mention the black toast - did you use that? If not, I could see how the color could be lighter. And did you roast the seeds/nuts enough and then cook that mixture until dark enough? I'm not sure whether I could have gotten my mole negro darker, but I thought it came out pretty damn dark. Was yours not as dark as mine? As for frying the peppers, I'm not sure that this step made the mole lighter, but I must say that the aroma was intoxicating and I was just about ready to start eating the fried peppers right then and there.

As for the flavor of the finished mole, I would have been very upset if the flavors of cinnamon/clove really stood out and I don't think that they stood out at all from the other flavors. I had that issue with a mole negro I recently tasted so I was certainly aware of that potential problem (see note above).

With respect to the mole splattering all over, I'll admit this happened when I first made the mole. The problem is that I was simmering at too high of a temperature. This did not happen the last two times I've made the recipe.

I can imagine how frustrated you would be spending a full day making mole only to find that it did not come out right, but I was very happy with my results. But I'm surprised you found the mole expensive to prepare. Cost-wise, I also found it to be an incredibly cheap dish to prepare, especially given the quantity prepared.

BR wrote: I couldn't find chilhuacle chiles and it sounds like they may not be available, so take Rick's advice and substitute the mulato, pasilla and guajillo peppers . . . which are easily found.

I smuggled some in from Mexico once for a friend (which was kind of fun in iteself - the finding, not the smuggling, because apparently it's one of those Spanish words that has numerous regional variations), but if anyone has a local source, please post here.

rustyshaclkeford wrote:Very disappointed I spent all that time and money for that.

You say that your disappointment was that the finished sauce was not black enough. The real question should be did you like your finished sauce.

Clearly, even with the exact recipe, you are not going to make what Rick Bayless made. There are many meals that I make that my wife likes and I just feel 'they weren't worth the effort'. I don't make them again. The real question for you - was this meal worth the effort, or could it be with some modification? If not - OK, move on.

Personally, I am extremely excited about trying this recipe in the next 6 weeks - regardless of whether it is actually black or not, regardless of whether it passes the Rick test of authentication.

I just got done reviewing a number of the mole negro recipes in my possession. Zarela Martinez makes the most relevant observation concerning the color of the mole. She says that the black color does not come so much from toasting/roasting the ingredients as it does from the chilhualces chiles, which she says are black. She also indicates that if you have to substitute other peppers for the chilhualces (as I did), the color of the mole negro will not be as black as it otherwise would be. So that might answer why mine is not totally black. In any event, I agree that the most relevant consideration is flavor and in that respect, I was pleased.

thanks for the feedback guys. the main reason I made the mole negro instead of poblano was for the color, and of course because i saw it on top chef. i toasted the bread till it was quite dark as well. I seem to have a problem with Bayless' moles. I made one for thanksgiving last year, his poblano, and it tasted almost exactly the same as the mole negro.

Some problems I have with his poblano/negro moles, as his mole verde is one of the best things I have ever made, is that they seem to be dominated by clove and cinnamon. I let my mexican friend try some whose mom makes legendary mole, and the first thing he asked was if I added cinnamon to it, and that it was strange.

I don't understand what the deal with these dried chiles are but everytime I use them, be it enchilidas or mole, its almost like they have a negative flavor. Not only can I not taste much flavor from them but they seem to kill the flavor of things I add to it, and need to add an excess amount of salt and sugar to make it taste like something..

I really wanted to like the finished sauce, but I didn't. I live in LA and have tried many different moles and it didn't taste like any moles I was use to. The reason I had such high hopes is because I make Bayless Mole Verde, and my Mexican girlfriend's parents think it is like the best mole they have ever tasted, and they taste stuff from Mexico and DF all the time. His mole verde i swear by, but this I just can't seem to get right. I was going to make it for thanksgiving but don't think it is good enough to be served to people.

Oh and I say it was expensive because it cost me like 25 dollars to make this sauce, with items like green tomatoes and pecans being extremely expensive.

Possibly great news: the elusive chilhuacles may soon be available in the US according to this article.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned to BR how much I liked this post of his and that I was wondering whether black mole would be worth the considerable effort. He was kind enough to offer me and Ronna a sample.

We eagerly took it home, grilled up some chicken, and made a slightly modified version of the above-described Classic White Rice (substituting brown rice). Well, I've never had anything quite like this mole before. Seeds, nuts, burnt toast, banana... wow.



I can report that this deep, rich, fantastically complex sauce was well worth every bit of BR's effort.

--Rich

So glad you guys enjoyed it Rich, and plate looks great -- thanks for the compliment.